1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improvement in an electronic component containing an electronic chip having metallic terminal plates joined thereto, and more particularly, to an electronic component suitably for use in the form of an electronic component composed of plural electronic elements and metallic terminal plates joined thereto such as a high capacitance capacitor.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, it has been proposed that to attain a high capacitance capacitor by use of a ceramic monolithic capacitor, plural ceramic capacitors are laminated to produce a high capacitance capacitor.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 4-171911 discloses an example of such capacitors. In such capacitor, shown in FIG. 5, a capacitor chip 56 is formed laminating a plurality of capacitors 51 through 55.
Metallic terminal plates 58 and 59 provided on the opposite side-faces of the capacitor of the capacitor chip and are adhered to the chip 56 through electroconductive joining materials 57. The metallic terminal plates 58 and 59 have terminal plate portions 58a and 59a, joined to the side-faces of the capacitor chip 56, and bent pieces 58b and 59b located at the lower ends of the terminal plate portions 58a and 59a and extending under the capacitor chip 56.
The bent pieces 58b and 59b are provided in order to facilitate the mounting of the capacitor chip 56 onto a printed circuit board or the like. The capacitor chip 56 is so fixed to the metallic terminal plates 58 and 59 at a location above the bent pieces 58b and 59b so that a gap is formed between the upper faces of the bent pieces 58b and 59b and the lower face of the capacitor chip 56.
More particularly, a substrate made of aluminum or the like, having high thermal dissipation properties, is used for mounting a circuit, for example, an IC or the like. When the above-mentioned capacitor is mounted onto such a metallic substrate, since the thermal expansion coefficient of the substrate is considerably different from that of the ceramic constituting the capacitor chip 56, it is necessary to absorb a distortion which will be caused by the difference between the thermal expansion coefficients. Accordingly, the capacitor chip 56 is fixed to the metallic terminal plates 58 and 59 in the state that they are lifted above the bent pieces 58b and 59b, as described above.
There have been proposed a variety of capacitors which have a large capacitance attained by lamination of plural lamination-capacitors as described above.
However, in the case of the conventional high-capacitance capacitor shown in FIG. 5, there is the problem that a high inductance is produced in the metallic terminal plates 58 and 59 used for mounting of the capacitor on a board. If a high inductance is produced, the electric properties of the circuit including the capacitor depart from their design values, so that the desired electrical characteristics can not be obtained.
According to the present invention, there is provided an electronic component which comprises an electronic chip having first and second side-faces, a first metallic terminal plate containing a first terminal plate portion joined to the first side-face of the electronic chip, and a second terminal plate portion bent along the edge of the first terminal plate portion toward the second side-face and elongated in a direction different from that of connecting the first and second side-faces to be out, and a second metallic terminal plate containing a first terminal plate portion joined to the second side-face of the electronic chip, and a second terminal plate portion bent along the edge of the first terminal plate portion toward the first side-face and elongated in a direction different from that of connecting the first and second side-faces to be out.
Preferably, the second terminal plate portions of the first and second metallic terminal plates are overlapped with each other through an insulating layer.
The insulating layer may be formed of an adhesive material, and the second terminal plate portions of the first and second metallic terminal plates are bonded to each other through the insulating layer.
Preferably, the electronic component further comprises a case for receiving the electronic chip.
Preferably, the electronic chip is formed of plural electronic elements laminated together.
The electronic chip may be formed of plural electronic elements arranged in the lateral direction.